EDUCATION Secretary Sonny Angara yesterday said the department sought the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate alleged irregularities in the Senior High School Voucher Program.
Angara said the NBI probe is separate from the department’s internal investigation on the matter.
“We will ensure that the SHS voucher program remains a tool for educational access, not a loophole for fraud. We are strengthening safeguards, reinforcing accountability, and making sure only rightful beneficiaries receive assistance,” he said.
Earlier, Angara warned that heads will roll in the Department of Education (DepEd) if the investigation shows there are officials involved in the alleged “ghost” student beneficiaries under the SHS voucher program.
The DepEd central office initiated an investigation last month over the alleged “ghost” senior high school students under the program in 12 private schools across nine divisions.
The Senior High School Voucher and Educational Service Contracting Programs are the two major assistance and subsidy programs of the DepEd for public school students who want to transfer to private schools due to overcrowding in the former.
In a Senate hearing last year, the Commission on Audit said “ghost” students refer to those who were named twice or more in billing statements that private schools submitted.
While the NBI probe is underway, Angara said the DepEd is implementing stricter measures and enhanced validation protocols to prevent future irregularities in the program.
“The verification process now involves multiple layers, beginning with cross-checking data between the Voucher Management System and the Learner Information System (LIS) to ensure that learners listed in the billing statements are genuinely enrolled in the school,” he said, adding that the second level of validation is conducted at the Central Office where discrepancies between billing statements and LIS records are flagged.
“If inconsistencies are found, payments to schools are withheld until the issues are resolved,” Angara said.
A post-billing monitoring process follows, conducted by the Private Education Assistance Committee which oversees participating schools on the ground.
“The final layer of verification is DepEd’s post-validation review, ensuring that all prior verification processes have been completed before payments are made,” Angara said.
He said the DepEd central office has also tasked regional and schools division offices to conduct school inspections and submit detailed reports to the central office.
School monitoring has also been expanded, with the percentage of schools undergoing evaluation increasing from 10 to 20 percent.
Angara added that the DepEd is also upgrading the LIS to include an audit trail to track all changes, automatic email alerts for data updates, and a system that maintains a complete learner history.
Angara said DepEd is reviewing proposals for the recognition of SHS private schools to further refine program implementation.
